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Branden Albert
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Branden Albert always has been talented, and he always has been big. With his competitive fire and his rare blend of size and athleticism, he has professional athlete written all over him. He just didn’t know it until recently.
Albert, 23, is an impressive 6-7, 310 pounds, and could’ve never predicted this. It is somewhat of a shock that football would be the sport he’d learn to love, considering how much he despised it. Albert, who is forgoing his senior year at the University of Virginia, is projected to be selected in the top half of Saturday’s first round.
To say that he has accomplished a lot is an understatement. Heck, he has been playing the sport for only five years.
Albert plays with light feet but boasts tremendous power, and he has the will to dominate, making it natural to suggest that he was meant to battle on the gridiron. His draft stock has soared since the season ended due to his impressive versatility, with some teams projecting him to left tackle.
It wouldn’t be like this if it weren’t for a fortuitous change of scenery that made Albert attempt life in pads and a helmet.
“If he (Albert’s brother, Ashley Sims) wasn’t living in Maryland when he was and if I had never gone to live with him, which I really didn’t want to do,” Albert says. “I wouldn’t be where I am right now. There was a lot of opportunity in Maryland, and I took advantage of that.”
Basketball is his first true love.
He was an animal on the court, and he dominated during his time at Glen Burnie High School in Glen Burnie, Md. He even matched up with future Georgetown star Jeff Green, a rookie forward with the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics, in a high school all-star game, and was the leading scorer.
Basketball, however, didn’t demand enough of him, and he remained overweight and undisciplined, despite his talent level. He simply didn’t have the discipline to get in shape on his own so he could truly take advantage of his athletic ability.
Something had to give. Albert either was going to change sports or accept mediocrity.
“He was real bitter,” Sims says, laughing. “Even over this past break man, you could still see it. We went to the local YMCA, and we were playing and … he’s just a beast. I was guarding him, and I’m 300 pounds, about 6-4, and we’re shooting around and playing 21 and, all of a sudden, Branden starts getting worked up. He starts coming into the lane and dunking all over people, going crazy. And we’re all like ‘Man, calm down.’ And he just says ‘I’ve gotta get it outta my system before I go on to the next level.’
“It woulda been a pleasure to see him play for the University of Virginia. A true pleasure. It would’ve been something that would’ve been talked about far more than his football career.”
Sims left the Alberts’ home in Rochester, N.Y. after earning a football scholarship at the University of Maryland, where he played from 1994-97, That left Branden to be raised by his mother, Susan Albert. Unfortunately, she was too busy working for Blue Cross/Blue Shield to make sure that Branden did his schoolwork. And without being monitored regularly, he neglected his studies and failed his freshman year of high school. Twice.
He was about to flunk again midway through his third attempt at ninth grade, when his mom and his brother had had enough. It was time for a change. Sims wanted Albert to join him in Maryland so he could keep a closer eye on his brother.
“By the time he was supposed to be in the 11th grade, he was about 6-4, 340 pounds,” Sims recalls. “I remember I came home and said to him ‘Man, you aren’t going to be on your mother’s couch or in your mother’s basement, looking in the refrigerator for the products with your name on them. You’re going to have to come on down.’ Our mom worked full time, and she would just be tired when she came home and asked him if he was doing his homework, he would always say, ‘yes.’ But that’s because he knew she would just believe him. Low and behold, he would get his report card, and it would show that he wasn’t doing his work. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do the work, he was just that lazy.”
Despite his stature, Albert was apprehensive about playing such a violent sport. It could have been because of basketball, which is obviously a much less-violent sport. Yet he was quick to dispel that theory, and just as quick to put a more accurate one in its place.
“It wasn’t necessarily me being drawn away from basketball,” Albert remembers. “It was my brother. He told me when I moved in with him, from New York to Maryland, that he wanted me to play football. So, you know, I didn’t really want to, but I did it anyway my junior year, and I really wasn’t that good. But it motivated me, and I took that with me my senior year. I lost weight, got big, all that good stuff, and became a decent player and earned myself a scholarship to Virginia.”
There was a pit stop before that, though. He put in the required work to pass ninth and 10th grades, during the same year that he was still working on catching up to his original classmates two years ahead of him. This, of course, required summer school, but with the hard work he put in, he managed to graduate only one year behind. Despite the effort Albert put in to catch up to his peers in the classroom and his significant potential, most major college programs had a hard time looking past his grades.
After his senior year of high school, he received only one scholarship offer: from Al Groh at the University of Virginia. Albert planned to honor that scholarship, but he decided to spend a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia first. He wanted to change his study habits, but he ended up changing much, much more.
“That’s where I learned how to be disciplined,” Albert says. “It taught me how to be more mature in everything I did. I learned about myself as a young man. It was a time where I was tested mentally and physically, and I learned a lot just by being there.”
Sims certainly noticed a difference.
“When he went to Hargrave, he was forced to move to the O-line because they were bringing in a crop of kids to play defensive line,” Sims says. “So if he wanted to play, he had to move to the offensive side of the ball. He played some O-line at Glen Burnie in a pass-happy offense, so he knew how to pass-block with the best of them because he could move his feet and he’s strong. But it wasn’t until he went to Hargrave that he learned how to really work, be compatible and play the hand he had been dealt.”
When he finally arrived on the Virginia campus in 2005, Albert quickly made his mark. He was named the starter at left guard during training camp as a true freshman. He went on to start all 13 games, becoming the first Cavaliers lineman to do so since 1972, en route to a spot on the freshman All-American team.
He started all 12 games as a sophomore, allowing just one sack. He capped his career by being named a captain and earned a spot on both the All-ACC (first team) and All-America (third team) squads this past season, starting 11 games at left guard and two at left tackle.
For those who know Albert, the situation he’s in really isn’t all that surprising. His talent has been undeniable since his youth, and he has always played sports at a level far above his peers. It was only a matter of time before it all clicked and he would combine a dogged work ethic with his natural talent.
There’s a story that can explain his recent success, and to hear Sims tell it makes it easier to understand how Albert put himself in the position he’s in today.
“I remember one time we were at the Olive Garden, and this is a story my mother doesn’t like me to tell,” Sims laughs. “Do you remember they used to have dishes where you could eat as much pasta as you want? Well Branden got the spaghetti dish and I got the linguini dish, and he bet me the hat that I was wearing that he could eat three bowls of pasta and drink three large sodas at the same time! (Laughing) On his second bowl, things begin to regurgitate, but he still was motivated to get that hat. I remember the waitress walked over and begged me ‘Sir, please stop, this is getting out of hand.’ And he replied to the lady ‘I gotta get that hat, I gotta get that hat,’ he just kept repeating it. And lo and behold, he ate three bowls and drank three sodas, and got that hat. Ten minutes later he was on the sidewalk letting it all go. And that’s just him — he’s always been a competitive kid. That’s what kind of family we come from. From my mother to my cousins, we’re all competitive.”
It is that passion and fire that is at the heart of Albert’s transformation into a top prospect. NFL teams have definitely taken notice. Now, it’ll be interesting to see how high Albert’s soaring career can go at the professional level.
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